Research governance, ethics and access: a case study illustrating the new challenges facing social researchers

The ‘Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care’ has recently been implemented in England and provides a set of standards to be used nationally in the conduct of health and social care research. Explicit and universal standards are to be welcomed in so far as they increase transparency in the contract between researchers and the agencies that participate in research, reiterate the importance of the ethical conduct of studies and the protection of participants. However, there have been some unanticipated consequences of the implementation of the framework which may serve to undermine the quality of research, the comparability of data and the timeliness of findings to inform policy and practice. This article examines these issues with reference to a recently established study involving vulnerable children and families. The potential implications for other studies are also explored and recommendations are made about how these issues may be overcome.